Today, online marketplaces routinely provide customers with modern, efficient and versatile interfaces that permit such customers to search for and identify desirable items (e.g., goods, products, services, information or media of any type or form) by a variety of means. For example, an online marketplace may provide a text box into which a customer may enter keywords. Upon receiving one or more such keywords, the online marketplace may conduct a search for items relating to the keywords, and present a web page that includes a list of such items to the customer for his or her review. Similarly, an online marketplace may provide a series or array of hyperlinked text elements, images or features that are each associated with a category or group of items. Upon receiving a selection of one of the text elements, images or features, the online marketplace may present a web page that includes a list of items corresponding to the selected element, image or feature to the customer. An online marketplace may also display web pages which include advertisements, customer ratings or other information regarding one or more items, as well as selectable features which permit customers to add the items to a virtual “shopping cart” for further evaluation or purchase, or to purchase the items outright.
A customer who visits an online marketplace may execute any number or series of actions when navigating through the online marketplace in order to search for, identify and purchase an item. The customer may execute any number of keyword searches or browse any number of categories until he or she ultimately identifies an item of his or her interest. The customer may perform such steps in any order, such as by executing one or more keyword searches before browsing in one or more categories, or vice versa, and in any combination. Furthermore, a customer may also review one or more customer ratings or reviews of an item, or browse one or more regions of a web page having details regarding the item, before deciding whether or not to purchase the item. Moreover, a customer may use any of a number of computing platforms and/or software applications to interact with the online marketplace, from any location, and may access the online marketplace at any time of day, or for any duration.
Currently, online marketplaces typically provide recommendations of items to customers based on information that may be known regarding the customers, their preferences and/or their purchasing histories. For example, after a customer has purchased an original item, an online marketplace may subsequently recommend another item to the customer that is similar to the original item, e.g., an item that is in the same category as the original item, or that may be used in association with the original item. Alternatively, the online marketplace may recommend another item to the customer that was purchased by others who also purchased the original item. Thus, recommendations of items are commonly provided to customers based on comparisons purchasing histories or attributes of products.